Whispering Buddha

 Yesterday, I sat before the easel with an empty little canvas panel to give brush strokes the freedom to create a design from within. It could have become anything it wanted, yet what my inner self chose to portray was a serene image of the Buddha; I like that just fine. The canvas size is just a wee 4" by 5".

Whispering Buddha, by Tree Pruitt

I began with a pale parchment colored acrylic paint in lazy crossed strokes with a half inch paintbrush. The design has no symmetry, with everything being slightly out of balance to add the feeling of motion when standing in front of the painting; This also expresses the spiritual concept of individual portions creating a balanced whole. I moved to using Titanium White paint, without wiping the brush, and picked up a tiny bit of Thalo Blue (blue shade) to allow natural mixing. Using smaller brushes, I added a tiny bit of Purple and acrylic gel medium for blending. Areas of acrylic paint that do not have gel medium added will drag and sort of pull on a brush loaded with straight acrylic paint. Adding a bit of the gel medium will make the paint slide over previous layers and more translucent, depending on the amount used. The slight shade of yellow to the Parchment color mixed well with Titanium White and the Thalo Blue to create a soft Blue-Green Turquoise for the deepest shadow areas. To play off of that Blue-Green, and add some more warmth, I used a touch of Cadmium Red for the bindi spot over the third eye, and softer still in the cheek bone shadows. Thick strokes of Titanium White add a further sense of motion and greater depth overall for a small painting that glow from all the way across the room.

It's been terribly difficult for me to capture the brightness of this painting in a photograph. This is one of those pieces that really does look better in person. Perhaps I'll try shooting again on a day with better light. I really enjoyed painting in these subtle tones though, so I will likely continue despite having a hard time showing them to you at best.

Visit my Fine Art store for this and other new paintings.

*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use or for purchase information.

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Contemporary Obama

When I finished this small portrait painting of the US President I wondered about the expressions it may reveal to individual viewers. Introspection aside, I enjoy painting and drawing faces in this Cubist sort of style because of the expressive tension it seems to offer. This new piece is painted in artist quality acrylics on a four inch by five inch canvas board. Warm, rich colors create the face while the ebony hair holds a touch of cool grey for a painting dynamic enough to speak out from a small size format. Signed as ,"Tree" in the lower right corner.

*The original painting is no longer available, but please check my links for print options.

 Geometric Cubism applied to a portrait of the United States President Barack Obama. Original 4" x 5" acrylic paint on unframed canvas board, by Tree Pruitt.


*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use or for purchase information.

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